Over the past three football seasons, Seneca has been forced to miss games because of opponents’ forfeits.

This upcoming season looked like that would again be the case after scheduled Week 2 opponent Lisle announced it was going to be playing a junior varsity-only schedule.

However, Fighting Irish head coach Terry Maxwell announced Monday that his team has picked up a road game at Sangamon Valley to fill the void.

“We had talked with [Sangamon Valley] earlier this summer about this being an option after they lost their Week 2 opponent,” Maxwell said. “We’ve unfortunately been in the position they were in a number of times the past few years, so we know just because a possible opponent calls about filling a vacant spot doesn’t mean it’s a great fit. They reached out to us late last week, and they were ready to make this happen.”

Sangamon Valley High School is located in Niantic, 12 miles west of Decatur. The Storm lost their Week 2 opponent, Cerro Gordo, when it decided to co-op with Arcola because of low numbers.

Sangamon Valley plays in the Lincoln Prairie Conference and finished 6-4 last season while making the Class 2A playoffs. Seneca ended last season 9-2 and qualified for the playoffs for the third straight year.

In 2021, Seneca lost its game with Watseka but was able to schedule a game with Clinton last minute. In 2022, it was a Week 6 game with Watseka that was lost. In 2023, it was Week 3 with Westmont and Week 6 with Walther Christian with no new opponent available. Then last season, the Irish lost a Week 7 game with Walther Christian.

The addition of Sangamon Valley boosts an already solid road nonconference schedule for the Irish, which includes games at Clinton and Genoa-Kingston.

“We are excited to be able to fill the opening we had,” Maxwell said. “[Sangamon Valley] should be a very solid opponent and a good matchup for us. Sangamon Valley adds another good team to our already pretty good, competitive overall schedule.”